Page 85 - Dutch Asiatic Shipping Volume 1

passing these islands, up to 30 degrees and then northnortheast, so as to find themselves west of Sunda Strait. In the case of the 950 to 1000 miles they were instructed to head eastnortheast after passing the islands, then to aim for Eendrachtsland and sail along the southern coast of Java.2 8
Table 11a: Average duration of voyage The Cape - Batavia
1610-19 102 1620-29 80 1630-39 67 1640-49 63 1650-59 73 1660-69 81 1670-79 79 1680-89 80 1690-99 82
1610-99 79 1610-1795 82
( 18) ( 22) ( 22) ( 9) (122) (194) (158) (154) (172)
(871) (3339)
1700-09 1710-19 1720-29 1730-39 1740-49 1750-59 1760-69 1770-79 1780-89 1790-95
1700-95
days (trips)
days (trips)
78 (229) 78 (274) 80 (324) 86 (327) 91 (275) 85 (250) 82 (246) 82 (243) 86 (214) 85 ( 86)
83 (2468)
For by far the majority of ships Batavia was the first destination in Asia. Taken over the whole of the Company's lifespan, five out of six ships in Asia dropped anchor in the Batavia roadstead. Table 11a shows how the duration of the voyage from Table Bay and False Bay to Batavia developed. The shift in months of departure from the Cape and the somewhat longer lap to the sighting of Eendrachtsland have probably contributed to the increase in travelling times during the eighteenth century.
The length of the route along the original southern course is about 6,450 nautical miles. At an average travelling time of 82 days this meant a daily distance of 78 nautical miles, considerably more than on the run to the Cape. The constant westerlies and the southeast trade wind were responsible for this.
b. Routes to Ceylon, Bengal and Canton
The southerly route had consequences also for ships trading with the Indian subcontinent and Ceylon. Up to 1629 it was customary that from time to time a few ships made straight for trading posts like Surat, Negapatnam, Pulicat or Masulipatnam. Like the Portuguese they bore to the East African coast and passed Madagascar on the in- or outside. But when during the three months before and after the new year the northeast monsoon prevailed, it was impossible to reach India this way. In 1620 therefore these masters were instructed to sail eastward after rounding the Cape, like their colleagues, but for no longer than seven to eight hundred miles. In this way they could make for India from the southeast. It followed that this was the right route for ships leaving the Cape between August and early January. A n instruction written in 1627 described how during the rest of the year
28 Van Dam, Beschryvinge, vol. 63, 666. For the later instructions see notes 12 and 18.